The Arguement FOR Heavy Bows

[jtwalsh62]

Okay now guys talk Arrows for the heavy bows what you like

[amar911]

My favorite heavy arrow setup is the Arrow Dynamics Hammerhead Trad with 100 grain brass insert, aluminum collar, unibushing with g-nock, 4x4" fletching over a plastic wrap, and a heavy broadhead like the Tuffhead 300 with 100 grain adapter or a VPA 300 or 325 grain 2 blade. Make sure to use a high quality adapter on the Tuffhead, because the broadhead is great but the adapters can be junky soft steel that bend easily. No such problems with the VPA heads because they are one-piece and require no separate adapter to screw into the inserts. Using the Tuffhead 300 with a 100 grain adapter, my 31" arrow weighs in right at 1000 grains and flies like a dart. I used this combination with my 70#@29.5" Shrew Safari and got great penetration on both an Asiatic buffalo and a Brahma-mix scrub bull. I shot the scrub bull at 50 yards and a second time at 40 yards with full penetration to the far ribs on both shots. I had similar penetration on the buffalo with a 27 yard shot. All shots were generally broadside through the ribs behind the shoulder. The tapered design of the AD shafts allows wide spine tolerance to accommodate a broad range of point weights and bow poundages. Just ask Terry Green about his experiences with AD arrows.

Allan

[pdk25]

Chuck, that pic is from a massive bull that Allan shot the year before the trip he is talking about. He did an extensive write-up on that hunt regarding shot placement as well as post kill testing.

Allan, sorry I missed your call. Crappy cell service at my place.  Good luck with the start of deer season on monday.  I am in the middle of a 25 day straight stretch of work, and will only get out for a few hours here and there.  I will give you a call soon.

Arrows.  I have some AD setups, but use mostly gt kinetic 200's cut to 30.5" with 100 grain brass inserts and 225 grain tuffheads and 125 grain broadhead inserts when shooting my morrison ilf rig 82#@29".  If I cut them 30", I can use the 300 grain tuffheads and get arrow weight of 900 grains.  I should say that these arrows are way too stiff for my Morrison Dakota that is only 3 pounds lighter because the ilf riser is cut remarkably far past center.

My buddy, Dave Sisamis, just made me some wood arrows up that fly well out of my HH Rogue that is 95#@29".  He used 110-115 spined douglas fir shafts, cut to 30", and they very nicely with both 250 grain big 3 broadheads and 300 grain tuffheads, although the ferrule size of the tuffhead is much better suited to the 23/64" shafts.

[amar911]

I can say that Patrick Kelly can regularly demonstrate the advantages of shooting a heavy bow with properly matched arrows. Of course, Pat's bows are significantly higher poundage than what is heavy for me, but he manages to make drawing an 82# bow look like child's play and still puts his arrows into tiny groups. Pat is not only a good archer and hunter, he is also very smart, so when he talks, everyone should listen. I know I do! Here are a couple of links to threads where I was shooting with Pat as he "showed his stuff."  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=116890#000001    http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=107057#000000  Somewhere else that I can't find, Pat has pictures of his first group and his last group on one of our days at the range. Maybe he'll post it.

And here is the thread about the first shot I ever took with my new Shrew Safari using the AD arrows I described.  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=116973#000000

Allan

[adkmountainken]

great thread!

[pdk25]

Thanks for the kind words Allan, but trust me, I have good days and bad days like everyone else.  There are lots of folks on this site that are better shooters than I am, but any problems that I have don't stem from being overbowed.  I was just outside shooting my Rogue for a little bit this evening after work.  Makes me think of getting a bow just a little bit heavier just to make the Rogue even easier to shoot.  Maybe 100# @ 28"?  Wouldn't want to go any heavier than that.  A little while back I got a bow that was supposed to be 105#, and I suspect it was more like 110#.  That was too much of a jump, and I sold it in a couple of days rather than hurting myself.  Too much of a jump.

[Forrest Halley]

I'm getting good flight with 29" Grizzlystik Safaris for the bows in my signature. I am still tuning the CarbonTech Safaris. I have achieved decent flight with adding weed eater cord and the aluminum inserts at 30". I'm running 250gr 3 blades and 2 blade 215grs. These combos come in around 800grs.
I've got an experimental arrow that is a 2317 over a CarbonTech 30" with a brass insert that has a total weight of 12-1300 grains. I'm playing with this one and it's flying well so far. I'm low on endurance right now due to just getting back from a long trip so testing is taking time.

[stik&string]

I to was in the midst of some arrow over arrow experiments but I ran out of tinkering time before season started, so I stuck with the tried and true wood arrows I have grown to love. The experimental arrows were a thin carbon tucked inside another carbon and with a heavy broadhead they were almost 1500 grains. The wood arrows I shoot average right at 1000 and despite being a little light out of my 115# Hill, they fly so well.

[pdk25]

Please tell me the specs on the wood arrows that you are using out of your 115# hill bow as well as your draw length, please.  I'd appreciate it.

[Terry Green]

I am shooting Arrow Dynamic Trads out of my 78# HH with 175 grain heads.

I'm also shooting them out of my 100# Java man with 175 grain heads....but I'm not all the way back to my draw with it at the moment.  If they don't fly, I believe the Arrow Dynamic Golds will.  Just that they are light and I'd have to weigh the shaft up from the inside....likely with weed eater line inside aquarium tubing to get a decent weight.

[Russ Clagett]

I tried soaking some 100 pound spine Doug Firs with Danish Watco Oil for 5 days....they took 10 days to dry, but gained alot of weight.

Almost 80 grains.........the completed arrows weighed just over 830 grains while the non soaked arrows, made up the same way, weigh just over 750........

I made them to shoot out of an 81 pound Dave Johnson longbow......

they hit like a 30-06.......

[stik&string]

My woodies are old sweetland forgewoods that I bought at an estate sale. I don't know what they spine as my tester only goes up to 100#, I figured buy them and if I couldn't use them as arrows I could shoot pool with them     Unfortunately I only have 7 left.

[stalkin4elk]

Lucky for me, GT 300 UL Entradas with 100gn brass insert,100 bh adapter, glued to 300 bh or fp and bareshaft tuned shoot like darts from a 62# Centaur and 75@28 RD longbow with 29 inch draw.The degree of center cut caused the luck to shoot two favorite bows with one set of arrows.
Double lucky recipe #2 is AD Hammerheads with alum adapter and 250 points.Fun made simple.

[Rossco7002]

After buying my first 'heavier bow' at the start of the month (a Schulz Granpa - 68@27) I was planning on getting some wood arrows but ended up tapped out for funds.

With what I had to hand I found that beman mfx 500's cut to 28 inches with 75gr insert and 190 gr Tree Sharks shot amazingly well from this bow. I really like that the arrow weighs 565 gr but only about 8.5 gpp so I've got plenty of weight but a very flat shooting arrow. Best of both worlds and a definite plus for shooting higher draw weight. No issues with hand shock either, that Schulz is a joy to shoot!

[swampthing]

Turkeys! those little birds don't need heavy set ups?  Bulloney! Wacked one with a 50# longbow from 27" draw and w/200g BH's. Hit the bird in the back just to he left of the center line between where the wings meet, NO PASS THROUGH!! 2 flips, 2 flops bird spit out the arrow and ran away! If that was with my 65#'er that bird would have been skewered to the ground like a teriyaki steak.

[pdk25]

Heavy forgewoods are hard to come by.

[Gil Verwey]

I like heavy arrows. I picked up a dozen birch shaft arrows from a Tradgang member, WOW.

These bad boys are heavy and fly great. They hit with authority. The trajectory changed quite a bit though and I will have to get used to the new trajectory.

The bow feels great shooting them though, so I will be giving these more of a chance. I sure would not want to get hit with one.

Has anyone else tried birch shafts? If so what do you think?

Gil

[Terry Green]

I have some compressed Maples....730 grains with a 175 grain head on them......and man are they tuff.  Don't know who does them anymore though.  Wish I did.

[Roger Norris]

I'm kinda late to this conversation, but I have ignored this thread on purpose....I have been experimenting with lighter bows for about 6 months. I didn't want to read something here that got in my head.

Anyway....I agree. The lighter bows just aren't for me. I need at least 57#. I need that hard tension or my release can suffer.

[dragonheart]

Originally posted by Roger Norris:
I'm kinda late to this conversation, but I have ignored this thread on purpose....I have been experimenting with lighter bows for about 6 months. I didn't want to read something here that got in my head.

Anyway....I agree. The lighter bows just aren't for me. I need at least 57#. I need that hard tension or my release can suffer.

That is about my "bottom-end" in bow weight also, 57#.  I am shooting that now and it is very comfortable to shoot.  Shooting 610 grain surewoods, 75 gr woody weight and 145 grain hunter head.  Hits with some JUICE!